Orders, Decorations & Medals - Other Properties - Bri

Lot 3650    SESSION 13 (2.30PM THURSDAY 2ND APRIL)    Orders, Decorations & Medals - Other Properties - Briti

Estimate $220
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $200

1914-15 STAR TO KIA. K.14203, J.H.Roe (sic, see note below), Sto.I R.N. Impressed. Toned, extremely fine.

Note: The above medal is numbered correctly but the surname is mis-spelt as Roe. It appears that his widow never had the surname corrected to Rae.

James Hall Rae, blacksmith, born 22Aug1891 at Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland; Enl.06Mar1912 in Royal Navy at Portsmouth for a period of 12 years; served in following ships, Victory II (training depot), Renown (training ship for Stokers), Zealandia (pre-dreadnought battleship), Egmont (base ship), Victory I (base ship), Dryad (navigation and direction school), Dolphin (submarine school), Maidstone (submarine depot ship) and submarine E47.

Submarine E47, commissioned in October 1916 was based at Harwich with the 9th Flotilla, depot ships Maidstone and Forth, and was engaged in North Sea patrols off the German and Dutch coasts. When German coastal shipping between Heligoland Bight and Rotterdam resumed, E47 was one of four submarines sent to intercept the convoy but it is believed that she was struck by a mine on 20 August 1917 and lost in the North Sea without survivors.

The wreck of the E47 was not found until 2002 when it was located in the North Sea about 6 nautical miles northwest of Texel in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands by Divingteam Noordkaap from the island of Vlieland in the north of the Netherlands. The remains of the hull revealed a large hole at the portside of the control room area which indicated it had been struck by a mine.

One of those lost on the E47 was Lieutenant Colin Fraser Creswell, son of Vice Admiral Sir William Rooke Creswell KCMG, KBE, RAN.

Stoker 1st Class James Hall Rae is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial along with other crew from the E47.

With large amount of research.